HIS4626 Global Cities
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course explores global cities to understand the varied and discrepant historical experiences of urban modernity. Drawing on a wide variety of literature from different disciplines and regions, we will critically examine the shaping of cities across the world: Boston, London, Paris, Shanghai, Mumbai, Singapore, Dubai, Bangalore, and Brasilia among others. We will examine city-space at two levels: first, at the more formal level of the state and town planners; and, second, at an everyday level, where city dwellers contest and redraw town plans in their daily lives.
The course begins with an analysis of race, class, and gender that segregated the industrial metropolis. We will then discuss colonial cities using space as a lens to review empire and imperialism. Next, our focus will be on neoliberal governance; megacities; the conceptualization of 'community' in a neoliberal city; gentrification; privatization of urban space; urban informality; and the new language of urban inclusion/exclusion.
A specific focus of this course will be on the impact of globalization on South Asian city space: has globalization sharpened class, caste, and religious divides in these cities?
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HIS4626
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN 3504: Global Context of Business: South Africa
4 advanced management credits
A core intention of this course is to present to participants the real-life workings of the business, finance and industry structure of an emerging country-economy, using South Africa as an engaging study, and contrasting these with the more familiar business environments and practices as encountered in advanced (western) country-economies. In using the country of South Africa as a case study, participants will see the entire Africa continent, with all its 54 countries, 1.2 billion people (17% of the world's population), $3trillion GDP, in context.
The course will look at South Africa and the continent through the lens of a business investor exploration. Using 52 developing countries of Africa as background, we will explore and analyze the major aspects of their finance and economic environments over a combined period of more than 15 years. In so doing, various mechanisms, concepts and theories will be introduced, explained and utilized at every step. This way, the student becomes acquainted with the intricacies of emerging country business, finance and economic environments in a practical and profound manner that involves real-life economic and business scenarios. Not only will the student learn and grasp international finance, economic and international business concepts and theories, they also will learn how these work and when to deploy them.
Participants will see how the business approaches and concepts they gather in their other Babson courses translate into and adapt to a totally different and unique socio-economic context. More specific details can be seen in the Course Content and Methodology section below, where the program's Taught Content (usually classroom) and Experienced Content (in-country corporate interactions, etc) are outlined.
Prerequisites: (FME 1000 and FME 1001) or (MOB 1010 and EPS 1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN3504
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS3532 Global Entrepreneurship
(Formerly International Entrepreneurship)
4 General CreditsThis Global Entrepreneurship course will explore the many dimensions and challenges of global venture creation and growth. The course offers a framework for understanding the entrepreneurial process in global contexts and exposes students to key issues and problems specific to international ventures. As the world becomes increasingly global, this course hopes to (1) encourage students to consider exploring entrepreneurial activities outside the domestic setting, (2) prepare them to see through a different set of lenses in order to better and more accurately identify vast global opportunities, and (3) equip them with various skills to better meet and tackle complex global challenges.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3532
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS7504 Global Entrepreneurship
(Previously titled International Entrepreneurship)
3 Elective Credits
Generating economic growth, fueling social development, and increasing individual wealth in developed and emerging economies around the world, entrepreneurship has drawn the attention of a wide range of stakeholders (e.g., government, academic, corporations, non-profits, etc.). International entrepreneurial opportunities abound as a result of technological advances, environmental challenges, and increased market access. International Entrepreneurship explores and analyzes these opportunities and challenges of launching and leading ventures in an international context. To accomplish this, the course uses a variety of frameworks, analytical models, and decision-making tools to better understand the entrepreneurial process and leadership in the context of cultures, economies, governments, and legal systems, primarily outside the United States. The primary assignment is an international venture plan completed by teams.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS7504
- Number of Credits: 3
MSM6110 Global Entrepreneurship Experience
MSEL Course
3 CreditsAt Babson, we consider a global mindset necessary for the 21st century. In addition to learning from the diversity of students in the program, in this course students will explore entrepreneurial ecosystems in a context different than the one in which they grew up. Groups of approximately 25 students will travel with instructors to other regions of the world to engage with locals on topics of entrepreneurial concern. Travel for this course occurs for 8-12 days during winter term and the course includes pre-departure preparation sessions, as well as post-return reflection exercises.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Course Number: MSM6110
- Number of Credits: 3
ENV4605 Global Environmental Activism
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits"It has never been more important to protect the environment, and it has never been more deadly. The battle for the environment is emerging as a new battleground for human rights." (Global Witness).
This course examines environmental activism around the world. The impact of anthropogenic activity on the environment has raised serious global concern and triggered several efforts to tackle the problem from the global to local level. Individuals and groups are using various tools to create awareness and help curb the growing environmental menace from different sources. Activists - especially local and indigenous ones - often face danger, including persecution by powerful actors like states and multilateral corporations, and the murder rate of environmental activists continues to rise globally. Environmental activism has thus become increasingly perilous. Nonetheless, advocacy for environmental responsibility remains vibrant around the world. This course uses various cases in different regions of the world to help understand the global environmental movement These cases include Shell in Nigeria's Niger Delta; Tahoe Resources in the Guatemalan town of Mataquescuintla; and Coca-Cola in India. The course will use these cases to examine: 1) the theoretical basis of environmental activism; 2) motivations of and challenges for activism; 3) the nature and composition of actors - activists, perpetrators and collaborators, policy communities, and governments; 4) nature and scope of issues and activism in the various regions of the world; and 5) relationships between environmental degradation, advocacy for its protection, and climate change.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ENV4605
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN4570 Global Financial Management
4 General Elective CreditsThe central theme of this course is how to manage the finances of a multinational firm. It devotes attention to managing the short-term finances of a multinational, including topics like centralizing cash management, netting, and transfer pricing. It then deals with long-term financial management of the multinational. That section includes capital budgeting in the multinational context, capital structure decisions, and also studies how a multinational can sometimes have a lower cost of capital than a single-country firm of the same size. The third major theme is how the multinational can optimize its relationship with the capital markets, including the national stock markets where its subsidiaries operate. This section includes a discussion of the opportunities created for multinational companies by international portfolio investment. If time permits, there will be a section on how to operate in countries with inconvertible or hyperinflationary currencies. The course deals with the international financial environment, meaning topics such as exchange rates, balance of payments, and cross-border capital flows, only to the extent necessary to put the financial decisions for firms operating in more than one currency into proper context.
Prerequisites: SME2021
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4570
- Number of Credits: 4
GDR4605 Global Gender Politics
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course aims to help students develop a comprehensive understanding of gender in contemporary domestic and international politics. It covers a variety of themes, such as feminist theory, intersectionality, gender performance, comparative legal regimes, and the political economy of gender. Students will have an opportunity to explore various case studies on gender from around the globe, to deepen their understanding of core concepts.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: GDR4605
- Number of Credits: 4
HSS2041 Global Goods: Histories of Commodities, Exchanges, and Cultures
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsHow have inanimate commodities served as active agents in human history?
How have global exchanges of commodities shaped socio-political boundaries?
This course will move chronologically from the late fifteenth century to the present, demystifying commodities that we have often taken for granted and studying them as drivers of transregional economies and cultures. We will survey a wide variety of commodities and market spaces: from exotic Indian tea to cotton produced in the American South to Qatar's oil reserves to Tokyo's fish markets, for example, to understand the transformation of _commodities_ into _global goods_. The course will offer factual knowledge and analytical tools for understanding the political circumstances and shifting cultural values implicated in the rise and transformation of commodities into global goods. We will explore how this transformation has left indelible marks on religion, science, democracy, race, gender, class, and ideas of human rights. We will also examine the social, cultural, and political boundaries that global exchanges of commodities demand, calling to question the idea of the _global_. Part economic, part cultural, and part environmental history, this course relies on the histories of commodities to illuminate the idea of what is global.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HSS2041
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM3501 Health Systems Innovation Lab
4 Advanced Management Credits
Global Health Innovation Lab is a learning-by-doing course where student teams are paired with students from universities around the world to identify and solve problems related to the development and implementation of health innovations in low- and middle-income settings. For our first offering of the course, students will be paired with medical students from the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. Students will be assigned to a high priority project challenge from a healthcare-related organization in Rwanda. Based on the challenge presented by the organization, students will follow the design thinking process, paired with approaches from healthcare management and entrepreneurship, medical anthropology and sociology, and information technology to prototype and test solutions that address organizational challenges. Organizational challenges may relate to care delivery services or technologies needed within clinic settings or in the community. The students will be expected to interact with the partner organizations regularly to make progress. Students will be connected with alumni or other experts as they need additional project support. Student teams are assessed based on their teamwork, project progress, and completion of course readings and activities. Students will have the opportunity to share their projects with the broader global health community through the Healey Center for Global Healthcare Entrepreneurship at Babson.
Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME1001) or (EPS1000 and MOB1010)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3501
- Number of Credits: 4